History Quiz: Political organizations prior to 1885 and Freedom Struggle under Moderate Phase | 22 May, 2021

The Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha was formed in 1836 by associates of Raja Rammohan Roy.

• The East India Association was organized by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866 in London to discuss the Indian question and influence public men in England to promote Indian welfare. Later, branches of the association were started in prominent Indian cities.
• The Indian League was started in 1875 by Sisir Kumar Ghosh with the object of “stimulating the sense of nationalism amongst the people” and of encouraging political education.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

The Indian Association of Calcutta (also known as the Indian National Association) superseded the Indian League and was founded in 1876 by younger nationalists of Bengal led by Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose, who were getting discontented with the conservative and pro-landlord policies of the British Indian Association.

The Indian Association was the most important of pre-Congress associations and aimed to “promote by every legitimate means the political, intellectual and material advancement of the people.” It set out to—

• create a strong public opinion on political questions, and
• unify Indian people in a common political programme.

It protested against the reduction of age limit in 1877 for candidates of the Indian Civil Service examination.

• The association demanded simultaneous holding of civil service examination in England and India and Indianization of higher administrative posts.
• It led a campaign against the repressive arms act and the vernacular press act.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

Political Associations before Indian National Congress:

• 1836—Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha and Zamindari Association or Landholders’ Society

• 1843—Bengal British India Society
• 1851—British Indian Association
• 1866—East India Association
• 1870—Poona Sarvajanik Sabha
• 1875—Indian League

• 1876—Indian Association of Calcutta or Indian National Association
• 1885—Bombay Presidency Association
• 1884—Madras Mahajan Sabha

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was founded in 1867 by Mahadeo Govind Ranade and others, with the object of serving as a bridge between the government and the people.

The Bombay Presidency Association was started by Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozshah Mehta and K.T. Telang in 1885.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

Sri Aurobindo was renowned and important personality in the history of the Indian resurgence and Indian nationalism.

• Aurobindo had a versatile brilliance. He was a great poet, a thoughtful thinker, a distinguished metaphysican, a great prophet and a passionate patriot.
• He wrote effective texts that represented the crystallization of the new and rising soul of India and given a spiritual message for humankind.
• He wrote that “Political freedom is the life-breath of a nation. To attempt social reform, educational reform, industrial expansion, the moral improvement of the race without aiming first and foremost at political freedom, is the very height of ignorance and futility.
• The primary requisite for national progress, national reform, is the habit of free and healthy national thought and action which is impossible in a state of servitude.”

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

A British committee of the Indian National Congress was established in London in 1889 which had India as its organ.

• Dadabhai Naoroji spent a substantial portion of his life and income campaigning for India’s case abroad.
• In 1890, it was decided to hold a session of the Indian National Congress in London in 1892, but owing to the British elections of 1891 the proposal was postponed and never revived later.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India, Page 255.

The British Indian Government was hostile to the Congress from the beginning despite the latter’s moderate methods and emphasis on loyalty to the British Crown.

• The official attitude stiffened further after 1887 when the government failed to persuade the Congress to confine itself to social issues when the Congress was becoming increasingly critical of the colonial rule.
• Now, the government resorted to open condemnation of the Congress, calling the nationalists “seditious brahmins”, “disloyal babus”, etc.
• Dufferin called the Congress “a factory of sedition”. Later, the government adopted a ‘divide and rule’ policy towards the Congress.
• The officials encouraged reactionary elements like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Raja Shiv Prasad Singh of Benaras to organise the United Indian Patriotic Association to counter Congress propaganda.
• The government also tried to divide the nationalists on the basis of religion, and, through a policy of ‘carrot and stick’, pitted the Moderates against the Extremists. But the government failed to check the rising tide of nationalism.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

Foundation of Indian National Congress

• First session held in 1885 (Bombay). Indian National Union, formed by A.O. Hume, became Indian National Congress.
• Foundational theories of INC and prominent believers:

• Safety Valve Theory —Lala Lajpat Rai
• Conspiracy Theory—R.P. Dutt
• Lightning conductor Theory—G.K. Gokhale
• Important leaders of Moderate Phase: Dadabhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta, P. Ananda Charlu, Surendranath Banerjea, Romesh Chandra Dutt, Ananda Mohan Bose, G.K. Gokhale, etc.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

Aims and Objectives of the Congress: The main aims of the Indian National Congress in the initial stage were to—

1. found a democratic, nationalist movement;
2. politicise and politically educate people;
3. establish the headquarters for a movement;
4. promote friendly relations among nationalist political workers from different parts of the country;
5. develop and propagate an anti-colonial nationalist ideology;
6. formulate and present popular demands before the government with a view to unifying the people over a common economic and political programme;
7. develop and consolidate a feeling of national unity among people irrespective of religion, caste or province.
8. carefully promote and nurture Indian nationhood.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.

The Zamindari Association, more popularly known as the ‘Landholders’ Society’, was founded to safeguard the interests of the landlords.

• Although limited in its objectives, the Landholders’ Society marked the beginning of an organized political activity and use of methods of constitutional agitation for the redressal of grievances.
• The Bengal British India Society was founded in 1843 with the object of “the collection and dissemination of information relating to the actual condition of the people of British India.
• And to employ such other means of peaceful and lawful character as may appear calculated to secure the welfare, extend the just rights and advance the interests of all classes of our fellow subjects”.

• In 1851, both the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society merged into the British Indian Association.

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.